B28 - Cabin floor hatch

[Yannis]

The space under the cabin sole was misused, so I decided to make a third floor hatch. The hatch cover itself was a copy/paste of the fwd one. It also serves as a nice inspection access hole to whatever lies under there. While at it, we also reinforced all that cavity with the stringers. Huge space now becomes useful.
(for some reason my camera can't focus on white-on-white)

[Tommy]

Yannis, the posts of your three different alterations reflect a high level of design and quality work. Congratulations on these improvements to your B-28.

[Yannis]

Tommy,

Very kind of yours.
I'm just inspired by everyone else's improvements, only mine don't have to do with fishing.
I feel jealous about most exterior improvements, like the ones recently posted about exterior deck painting... My boat will never look like that Hatt34 ... Never...

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

That is nice work. You followed those radius's perfectly. I give you a lot of credit. I would have had to practice for 3 weeks before I tried to cut those corners.

[Yannis]

Tony,

As in most cases in real life, credit is given to the master for the work accomplished by his team.
In my case, although I was overlooking the works with my ever vigilant eye, I should not forget to mention that my "plastician" is a skillful technician with years of experience.
At one point, for example, I thought that the new matt layer under the cabin sole he was just finished sanding, and had just painted white, had some imperfections to the touch I was not happy about. He had to re-use the sander and then re-paint those spots so as to pass QC ! It was then that he voiced: " you have an inherent tendency to exaggerate" !!
And although I repair or improve the boat for myself, I cannot deny that I take pride for any positive comment... Like I said, we're all here shot in the head with that boating bullet ...

[Yannis]

Tony,

In this pic you can see the process. First, the original surface is cut deep and removed, then comes the more delicate work of cutting the straight top skin parts out, leaving the difficult corners for later. Then removing the balsa with the chisel. The corners he cut with the diamond wheel (seen at the bottom) put at a less than 45 degree angle over the corner. The diameter of the wheel almost matched that of the corner itself. Don't ask me to do this, though !

[John F.]

Pretty slick work. Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering how that was done